


playing dead

by hypercatt



Category: South Park
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Mentions of Death, possums
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:33:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23800120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypercatt/pseuds/hypercatt
Summary: Kenny finds a possum.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	playing dead

**Author's Note:**

> this is just a little fic exploring kenny's character a bit!! i forgot about this fic for months ;~; sorry kenny.......  
> i changed how kenny's immortality works slightly in this fic also!! just to make it a little more cohesive lol;;  
> it's pretty simple, but i hope you can enjoy!! ^^

Occasionally, when Kenny separated from the rest of the group, it kind of felt like everyone else in the world had disappeared.

Maybe it was just one of those strange feelings he got from time to time, but walking back alone on the empty street, the orange sky rising up from the mountains nestled somewhere far away- he was sure that the entire town had just evaporated, leaving only him behind. One day he would come home to nothing, and spend the night waiting for his parents to return home whilst drunk out their minds and screaming like always, but they never would. He’d sit and wait, and eventually realise he was to be alone forever.

It was always a distant thought, though one he could never dismiss as just pure fantasy. After all, weirder things had happened, right? This was South Park. If the apocalypse was going to happen, it would definitely start here. It already kind of had done a bunch of times. But he always lived. He _always_ lived.

Today, though, it seemed like the end of the world was going to hold off a little longer, as Kenny saw movement across the street. Something low to the ground. Half-curious and half to check it wasn’t a demon or something, Kenny turned his head to look, and saw a possum scurrying along on the other side of the road.

Kenny grinned, sauntering on with hands in his pockets, watching the possum mirror his path across the street, tiny hands pattering against the sidewalk. Possums weren’t exactly uncommon around here, but seeing one at this time, just walking along the sidewalk...it was kind of neat.

“Where are you going, possum?” he called across the road, voice muffled by his hood as always. It probably couldn’t even hear him, but it was still fun to pretend. “You got business to attend? Trash to eat?”

It paused momentarily, sniffing as if thinking about its answer, before carrying on with its walk. Kenny snickered. If the world really did end, he didn’t think he’d mind too much spending eternity with a possum friend. The cats of the trash world. Kind of cute, in their own way.

“Up early, or out late?” Kenny asked, and the possum stopped again, eyes shifting side to side. “Something illegal? It’s okay, I won’t tell.”

One of the good things about being the last person in the world was that Kenny could act however he wanted, and it didn’t matter. Maybe the other guys would rip on him for talking to a random animal, but they weren’t here right now. Not that it was even that weird. Kenny was pretty sure Stan spoke to his dog when he was alone. Maybe even to trees, or whatever.

Except- Kenny wasn’t really the last one in the world. And neither was the possum. That became much too apparent when a truck came speeding down the road, tyres swerving off the tarmac and onto the sidewalk with a loud screech. Right towards the possum.

Kenny jumped.

Dying always came with different levels of pain. Sometimes it was pretty instant, and he would wake up a few moments later almost unaware he’d even been gone at all. Stuff like snapping his neck or a bullet through the hard palate- those were always over after a short spike of pain. But sometimes it seemed to take hours, and he would sit there just wishing for it to hurry up, for his mortality to have its little break already so he could go back to having all his organs inside his body.

Today was maybe like...a six or a seven? It might have felt worse, with his body rolling a few metres down the road with a good number of bones rattling inside him, but getting hit by cars was so _old_. Kind of boring. Well, this time was a truck, so maybe he got tossed a little further, but the end result was all the same. Lots of pain, nothing, and then being right back to where he started.

And...

Kenny opened his eyes, looking down at the blood splashed across his parka. Not a big deal; it’d fade after a few minutes. It kind of had to, or else people might actually remember. And people never remembered.

Oh, but he’d jumped to save the possum. Goddammit, he was probably too slow. What a waste of a death. He could have at least tried to do something fun, like go to the bottom of a lake or try and ski down a mountain or something. At least that would’ve been cooler than getting hit by a _truck_. The gods of immortality must have been laughing at him, if they were up there.

Kenny rolled to his side, and found himself staring into a bright pair of possum eyes.

He blinked. It didn’t look dead. Was it dead? Sure, its fur was all matted with blood and the road had a tell-tale red streak, but- it didn’t really look too dead. Then, it blinked back at him.

“You’re alive?” he asked, sitting up with wide eyes, following the trail on the road. They’d both bled a lot. They’d both been hit? But, there was no way it could have survived, unless- “...You too?”

Kenny had never thought he’d find anyone else the same as him. None of his friends believed him. His family had never offered any explanation. For a long time, he’d believed he was the only person to exist with his kind of curse, and would probably be the only one to _ever_ exist. But apparently, there really was someone else out there the same as him.

Just...not exactly who he would have thought it would be.

The animal stood up slowly, shaking itself off and opening its mouth slightly. Kenny watched it, wondering. Did it know it had a curse? How much thought was a possum even capable of? Maybe it just assumed it worked like that for everyone? Maybe it was just hungry, and didn’t care at all.

Kenny could understand that feeling pretty well.

“You alright, lil’ guy?” Kenny asked, pulling himself off the ground and brushing himself off slightly. The stains of blood were still growing fainter against the road, and Kenny pulled his hood back up, wiping a hand across his face. The possum just stared back at him, taking a small step back but not running. “You seem fine. Want me to find you some good trash to eat?”

By the time he’d reached his part of the neighbourhood, it really wasn’t that weird to see people rummaging through trash cans for whatever reason, so Kenny had no qualms about sticking his hand into a bag of garbage left out on the side of the road, sleeve pushed up. Blood would fade, but garbage juice definitely wouldn’t. With a grin, he pulled out a half-eaten burger, tossing it over to the possum still waiting at the edge of the road.

“You’re pretty cool,” Kenny said, watching as it snapped its snout around the bread, using its little hand to push it further into its mouth. Probably totally unaware it had been roadkill just a few minutes ago. “I like you. You should be my death buddy.”

The possum just stared up at him whilst continuing to chew the burger, spitting bits out onto the sidewalk. Kenny crouched down and grinned, watching. With the orange glow of the setting sun casting shadows over both of them, solid and animated against the path, Kenny was pretty sure that today the world was going to go on like always.

Well, for the two of them, at least.

-

“Uh, Kenny?”

Kenny turned a little to look over at the others, still waiting for the bus with their shoes deep in the snow. Stan at the front, then Kyle, Cartman beside him, and Kenny at the end. It was pretty routine.

“Are those possums, like...following you around?” Kyle asked, frowning down at the ground. Kenny followed his gaze. Oh, right. He’d forgotten about the possum beside his feet on the other side, which was- not part of the routine.

“Seriously, there’s been one crawling around like every day this week,” Cartman said, sneering slightly. Kenny didn’t look at him as he replied.

“It’s just the one possum, actually.”

“You can tell?” Stan asked, blinking, and Kenny just shrugged. Not that he really knew, but just based on a guess...

“Kenny hangs out with rodents and stuff all the time, Stan, of course he can tell them apart,” Cartman said, eyeing the possum with distaste. “No wonder they’re following him around, he’s practically one of them.”

“Shut the fuck up, Cartman,” Kenny said, rolling his eyes.

“Don’t they have rabies or something?” Stan said, leaning over to get a better look with a slight frown.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure possums are immune to rabies,” Kyle said, then shot an uncertain glance over at the possum. “But it’s kind of weird it’s just here like this, at this time. Maybe it’s sick?”

“That thing _definitely_ has rabies and if it’s gonna kill anybody, it’s killing Kenny first,” Cartman said, taking a step away from him over to Stan and Kyle.

“Shut up, Cartman, you’re too fat to get rabies anyway,” Kyle said, instantly igniting a stream of backlash that Kenny had already heard a thousand times, if not more. Stan seemed to feel the same way as he stepped away from the two of them, coming to stare at the possum from a closer distance.

“I guess it is kind of cute,” Stan said, watching as it scratched behind its ear. “The hands are kind of creepy though.”

“I’m calling him Mr. Possy.”

“Huh.” Stan held out a gloved hand, then drew it back slightly, hesitating. “Are they really immune to rabies?”

“I dunno.” Kenny shrugged. “I don’t care. He doesn’t bite.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. He’s pretty chill.”

Stan seemed to consider this for a moment, but didn’t get to voice his thoughts as the bus pulled up, effectively ending whatever was happening amongst them in a matter of seconds. Kyle and Cartman dropped their argument and Stan stepped back into line, leading them up onto the bus. The possum stayed beside the signpost, snow on his snout as he sniffed through the snow.

“Goodbye, Mr. Possy,” Kenny said as they sat down, waving out the window. Cartman pulled a face.

“That thing’s fucking roadkill. It’ll be dead in fifteen minutes, tops.”

“Me too,” Kenny said. The others stared at him.

“What?” Kyle asked, but Kenny didn’t reply. There wasn’t any need to, really. They’d probably forget he was ever here by three o’clock today.

“God, Kenny, you’re so fucking weird,” Cartman muttered. Kenny just kept staring out the window, watching the mountains roll by against the grey of the early morning sky. They could say what they wanted, but at least the possum would remember him ever having been there.

-

As much as Kenny liked his friends, it could be pretty frustrating having someone who didn’t understand what it was like to be rejected by death nearly every single day. Maybe his friends were fun to hang out with and thought of some interesting stuff to do, but Kenny had always felt like there was some kind of barrier between him and them. They didn’t know why he seemed to suddenly disappear all the time, and half the interactions he had with them had faded by the end of the day.

But having someone else who died too – it was good. It was different, too, but definitely good. Kenny could be walking along the road and suddenly take a bullet through the head, and when he woke up, his possum would still be there waiting, sniffing around the floor. And likewise, when a random dog would run over and start ragging on his possum until its body went limp, Kenny would always be there when he woke back up. It was simple, but nice. Sometimes, when a car got out of control or someone dropped a beam from an overhead construction site, they’d die together. And that was nice too. It wasn’t just Kenny who wasn’t allowed to die. Someone else had been sent away from the gates too.

Each day, he’d walk to school with his possum, and meet him again once he got back. As much as he’d died in the few weeks since that routine started, his friends still seemed to remember the new development, and had eventually gotten used to it. Stan had even given in to the urge and given the possum a pat on the head, despite Cartman trying to convince him he now had rabies and it was already too late to save him.

But then a day passed without his possum showing up. And another. And then enough that Kenny started to wonder if maybe, like everything in his life, the possum had just been another temporary thing. Killed off for good, cycle ended. He didn’t know.

Kenny kicked out a leg, staring off with a bored expression at the sky. The next bus wasn’t for another ten minutes, and there was nothing to do whilst waiting except feel the cold seep into his bones.

“Oh, hey, Kenny!”

Kenny turned, seeing Butters arrive into his vision out the side of his hood, and blinked. It was already an hour since school had ended, and Butters was the last person Kenny would’ve expected to stay late. His parents would probably ground him when he got back, if they hadn’t already.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, watching as Butters took the seat next to him.

“Oh, well.” Butters made a vague gesture with his hand, smiling. “Eric wanted me to sneak back into class after school to get him back somethin’ the teacher took away, but I was too slow and got caught. Guess I’m not very good at that kinda stuff, huh.”

_You shouldn’t just do whatever people ask you to do, Butters, or else they’ll just keep asking you_.

“Oh, but, uhh, what about you? How come you’re still here?”

“Missed the bus,” Kenny said with a light shrug. It was a half-lie; he’d actually slipped going down the steps after class and broke his neck, and only woken up after the usual bus had gone. But obviously the last person he was going to try and explain that to was Butters.

“Oh jeez, that’s no good,” Butters said, giving a much too genuine sympathetic look in his direction. “Hopefully your parents won’t be too mad!”

_They won’t even care,_ Kenny thought, wondering for a moment what it would be like to have parents who would actually notice his constant disappearances. Actually, if they ended up anything like Butters’ parents, it was probably for the best they didn’t care.

“Oh yeah, I was meanin’ to ask,” Butters continued, playing with a small pile of snow that had gathered at the edge of the bench. “What happened to your possum friend? He not around anymore?”

“I dunno,” Kenny said, frowning a little. “I haven’t seen him.”

“Well, I hope nothin’ bad happened,” Butters said, again much too earnestly.

“Yeah, I hope so too.” Kenny didn’t really expect that anything too bad could have happened to his possum, considering he always just came back, but it was hard to keep an optimistic mind-set when it had already been a month or so without any sight of him. Especially after seeing him die so many times, it was hardly a difficult thing to imagine.

“But I think it’s nice! Havin’ a little buddy to follow you around all the time. It’s like havin’ a cat, or somethin’ like that.”

“Mm, it’s good,” Kenny said, and leaned back slightly. It was probably fine. Maybe the possum had just gone on a little voyage, a journey of self-discovery. Maybe he set off on a quest to find some really good trash, a higher standard than the stuff Kenny had in his bins. Maybe he was just trying to live the good life. Kenny couldn’t be mad at him for that.

Eventually the bus rocked up to the stop, and Butters talked at him for a bit longer about whatever popped into his mind, the same nonsensical stuff as always. Kenny didn’t really mind. Butters was definitely a bit misled, but still good at heart, and it was refreshing to hear someone with that kind of natural goodness.

But then, Kenny was alone again, walking back in a completely still world as the sun set in the distance. His footprints were light against the snow, ready to be covered up by the usual late-night blizzards. Nobody by his side, and definitely no possums strolling along down the other side of the street.

Feeling lonely because of a trash animal was probably pretty dumb, but Kenny was sure he’d hit lower points of stupidity. Maybe he could ask around, and see if anyone had seen a gross garbage cat snooping around their trash.

Just in case, Kenny stuck his head around the desolate back of his house before he entered, but there was no sign of any possum waiting, or tipping over the cans. With a sigh, Kenny tightened his hood and stepped into his house.

Luckily for him, he wasn’t greeted by either of his two parents sprawled out drunk on the sofa like he did some days, but instead his sister, curled up watching TV. She grinned as she saw him, sitting up slightly.

“Kenny!” she exclaimed as he stepped further into the room, kicking the snow off the bottom of his shoes. “Where’ve you been?”

“Just missed the bus again.” Kenny leaned to the side, trying to see into the kitchen. “Anyone else in?”

“Kevin’s in his room, but Mom and Dad aren’t back yet.”

“Okay.” Kenny somehow doubted his parents would be back at all tonight. “Have you eaten?”

“Not yet,” Karen said, shrugging a little, before turning her attention back to the TV, laughing at something on the screen. Kenny tossed his bag over by the wall and made his way to the kitchen, easily pushing aside the few bottles gathered on the counter. Luckily, when he opened up the fridge, it wasn’t completely empty, and Kenny set to work on scooping out the last of the peanut butter onto the two pieces of bread he’d found almost forgotten at the back of the cupboard. It wasn’t exactly a huge meal, but Karen still seemed to appreciate it when he brought it back in for her.

“How was school?” Kenny asked as he slid down onto the floor next to the sofa, feeling his joints pop as he stretched himself out.

“Mmm, fine, I guess,” Karen replied, mouth still full of bread.

“Anything good happen?”

“Not really...”

“Well, that’s probably a good thing,” Kenny said. What he considered a ‘normal’ day and what his sister thought it was were probably two very different things, and Kenny was glad for that.

“Is it?” Karen said, looking down at him with a little confusion, before shivering slightly. Kenny sat up.

“Are you cold?” he asked, already making a move to remove his parka when Karen nodded. “Here, you can take this.”

“Won’t you be cold?” Karen frowned, holding out her hand uncertainly.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Kenny said, grinning just to emphasise his point. “Don’t worry about me.”

Karen smiled back, accepting the parka from him and wrapping it around her shoulders. “Thank you, Kenny!”

The house was maybe a little colder after that, but it wasn’t snowing tonight, and either way, Kenny had frozen to death enough times to recognise when it was getting too cold. It’d be a little shivery, but nothing that was going to kill him.

For a while, Kenny stayed staring at the TV in a daze, only half-following the cartoon his sister had put on. Nights where nothing happened were kind of nice, once in a while, though Kenny had no doubts that the other three guys were probably out getting involved in some kind of dangerous stint again. A lot of the time they forgot to invite him, but he supposed he was easy to forget after temporarily being evicted from the world every day. His existence seemed to take a while to come back to people, and Kenny was used to it.

A sudden pang of hunger distracted him back into reality, and the shapes of the cartoon came back into focus. When Kenny looked around, Karen was asleep, wrapped up in his parka. She looked warm, and content. Kenny smiled, then glanced back down. Karen had eaten and would be fine for now, but there was nothing else left in the house for him. Kenny pulled himself back up to his feet and stretched again, a little stiff. Well, he might as well give it a look outside. Either he’d find something to eat, or provide himself with enough distraction until it was time to sleep.

The snow on the ground wasn’t too deep as Kenny crept outside, shivering just a little as the cold air bit into him. It was easy to forget whilst cooped up inside, but outside was definitely a lot colder, even if the heating hardly seemed to work in the house. But it wasn’t quite dark yet, so he’d be fine. Karen needed the warmth more than he did. She needed everything more than he did, considering it didn’t matter what happened to him either way.

Kenny was just about to start strolling up the street, when there was a clang over by one of the trash cans by the road. He paused, just a for a second, ready to feel a bullet pierce his lung or see some naked guy with a knife running towards him, but there was nothing. Definitely no room for a human to hide in a space that small. He knew that for sure.

There was another clang and Kenny moved a little closer, less tense now. And then, a small pair of hands appeared from behind the bin, pressing against the snow. Kenny grinned.

“You came back!” He laughed as the possum jogged over to him, making a small trail through the snow. “What’ve you been...”

He paused as the possum stopped at his feet, and Kenny blinked, leaning down closer. It was a little hard to see at first, especially in the quickly dimming light, but when he looked closer, there was something on the possum’s back. Or- a few things- a lot of things-

“Babies?” Kenny asked, staring with wide eyes. “You had babies?”

As if to confirm this, the possum rolled over slightly in the shallow snow, at least six tiny possum babies falling off its back and crawling around to it stomach. Kenny squatted, watching in fascination.

“I guess that’s where you went?” he asked, reaching out a hand to stroke one before drawing it back, unsure. He didn’t want to scent it with something different and get them all confused. They were still so small. “Hey, this one’s...”

Kenny peered around, spotting one of the babies still stuck to a spot on the back of the possum. Its fur was lightly coated with frost, and Kenny frowned just a little. Wishing he had his sleeve to at least cover his hand to stop the risk of ruining its scent, he reached forwards, brushing the baby slightly. It fell off with a stiff motion, unmoving in the snow. Kenny watched it for a moment, before retracting his hand.

“...I guess they’re not the same as you,” he said quietly, after a few moments had passed. The possum just eyed him as it led still, then to the baby. Kenny scooped it up gently in his hands, fingertips starting to go numb. He wondered if it’d be best in the trash where nothing could eat it, then shook his head, opting instead to dig a small hole in the snow and placing it inside, before dragging the garbage can over the top of it. That was probably good enough.

The possum didn’t seem to mind too much, still focused on its remaining babies, and Kenny sighed as he squatted back down next to it. The others were still cute. It was just kind of...sad, somehow. Not that it didn’t happen, he knew that obviously, but. Still.

“We have to look after them,” he muttered, gazing up at the sky, and the stars that were just starting to appear through the murkiness. “You know that, right? We’re their protectors.”

Kenny’s mind flashed to Karen still curled up inside, warm in his jacket, and then the rest of the guys somewhere safe at home with their families. They all had uncertain tomorrows, days of danger ahead of them. Kenny rubbed his hands together, feeling the cold skin of his palms against numb fingers. Then he glanced down at the possum, and smiled just a little.

They could at least help the ones they had left.

-

More time and deaths passed, until it was late enough in the year that the snow had become something fierce, blowing hard outside the window and rattling the frame. Kenny was just waiting for it to fly open and fill their classroom with sleet, knocking all the papers off the side. Knowing his luck, the window would probably smash and slice his neck open. Something like that, anyway.

“This assignment is dumb,” Stan sighed, leaning his head onto his elbow as he stared down at his still empty paper. “I dunno what I’m gonna be when I’m older. How are we supposed to figure that out now?”

“I get you, dude,” Kenny said, staring at his own blank sheet. It was an easy enough question to pass the time for their last class of the day, but he’d started to think about it just a little too much, and now he had no idea what to write. What he was going to do when he was older? Keep dying, he guessed. That was the only plan he really had.

“Do something with animals, dude, you’re good at that,” Kyle suggested, scribbling hard on his own paper, before crossing it out and starting again.

“Like a vet?” Stan frowned. “No, then I’ve gotta like, kill dogs and stuff...”

“Dog walker,” Kyle said without looking up, and Stan seemed to consider this idea in a better light.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Stan said, starting a hesitant few words at the top of his sheet, before leaning over to try and see Kyle’s desk. “What about you, dude?”

“Maybe like, a lawyer, or a politician or something,” he said, shooting a wary glance over to Cartman, who had an arm cupped around his paper in an attempt to hide it. “Whatever I need to be to stop that guy from becoming whatever he’s writing.”

“Well, that’d suit you, _Kahl,_ since you’d have to become a supervillain to stop me from becoming South Park’s greatest hero,” Cartman sneered, wrinkling his nose. Kyle barked out a dry laugh.

“A superhero? What, dude, are you five?”

“We’ll see who’s laughing when I’m the most adored figure in South Park!”

“Like hell,” Stan muttered, rolling his eyes, before leaning back to Kenny. “What about you, Kenny?”

“I dunno.” He shrugged, looking to them for help. “What do you think would suit me?”

Kyle and Stan shared a look, the kind where Kenny could almost see the brainwaves passing between them, before they turned back to him again.

“Maybe a fireman?” Stan suggested. “You’re pretty brave, right?”

Kenny thought this over. “I probably want a less painful way to go each time.”

“Uhh, what about policeman?” Kyle said. Kenny hummed.

“Too many opportunities.”

“I dunno, dude.” Kyle shrugged. “Just whatever you wanna be. I doubt it matters if Cartman’s writing _superhero_.”

“You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first!” Cartman spat, and Kenny let them get back to their fighting as he continued to gaze down at his paper. The future...it was just...

Did it really exist? _Could_ it?

In the end, Kenny shoved his paper into his pocket, figuring he’d just slot it in the hand-ins pile at a later date. It was last period, anyway. By the time anyone noticed, he’d be long gone.

The wind outside was just as vicious as it sounded, and Kenny pulled hard on the strings of his hood to try and stop his nose from freezing off and blowing away. He kept his head down as he walked back towards his house, trying not to skid on the ice and end up in the road (seriously, no more car deaths), but could still see when a familiar figure joined him on his walk.

“Not too cold?” he asked under his hood, the possum scurrying along him, hardly deterred by the wind. “Your babies must be all grown up now. They somewhere safe? Doing good?”

The possum just kept running, occasionally shaking its head to rid itself of the snow build-up, and Kenny grinned. Luckily for the both of them, by the time they’d reached his house, the snow had settled down into something much gentler, falling lightly as if it hadn’t been a full blown storm just moments ago. Kenny shook his head hard as he reached the door, raising a gloved hand to open it when he heard the muffled yelling from inside. Kenny withdrew his hand, and shoved it back in his pocket.

“Keep me company?” he asked the possum as he slid down onto the step, not caring about the snow soaking into his pants. Obediently, it came and sat by his feet, and he petted its head absently, laughing a little as its mouth gaped open in a triangle shape. “I wonder how long you’ll hang around here for.”

As he said it, Kenny couldn’t be sure who his words were exactly aimed at, and he rested his head on his hand, watching the snow drift down. The possum had already left once, and maybe it would leave again. Maybe it’d keep coming back, or move on with its life. He glanced down.

“...You know, I like that you had babies,” he said, still patting its head. “I like that you still do normal possum things. You must think you’re pretty normal, huh? You don’t know you always die. Though it’d be weird if you knew.”

The possum just shook its head again, flicking snow off its snout, and Kenny leaned back, trying not to pay attention to the shouting inside. At least here he couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying. Cold as it was, it was nicer out here.

Karen arrived home not too long after, done with her usual art club, and Kenny made sure to invite her to sit with him so she wouldn’t have to go inside either. It upset her more than him. In fact, Kenny was sure he wouldn’t care at all if Karen didn’t.

“Hey, Kenny,” she greeted cheerfully as she sat down next to him after he cleared a spot, brushing the snow off with his hand. “Your possum friend is here again!”

“Yup.” Kenny moved his hand to let Karen pet the animal, and she beamed brightly as the possum opened its mouth again.

“I love him so much,” she said, giggling as the possum blinked one of its eyes shut.

“Possy’s a girl, remember? She had babies.”

“Oh yeah, right.” Karen nodded. “Well, I love _her_ , then.”

Kenny chatted to her easily whilst waiting for the silence to settle down inside, keen to send her in before the storm could start up again. It didn’t take too long, which wasn’t a surprise. The loud arguing was the last stage before complete pass-out, and one of the safest too. His parents were always too tired to yell once they woke up, and functioned almost like normal people until they went back to whatever substance they were taking that week. Karen was fine to go in whilst they were knocked out.

For that reason, Kenny could’ve gone in too, but chose to stay out just a little longer, content with his possum buddy. Times like this, the world didn’t feel so weird. He didn’t have to question ‘ _why me??’_ , because he could look down and remember that it wasn’t just him.

Kenny shoved his hand into his pocket, and suddenly remembered the scrunched up piece of paper in there. He pulled it out and glanced at it again, frowning.

_‘When I grow up, I’m going to be...’_

What _could_ he be? Kenny really didn’t know. And apparently, his friends didn’t know either. He sighed, holding the paper in his lap and gazing back down at the possum.

“I want to do normal things too,” he said, carrying on their ‘conversation’ from before. “I’m still getting older. I’ll still grow. But I can only do one day at a time.”

It watched him carefully, and Kenny frowned.

“Is it okay to not know?” he asked, looking up. “Is it okay to be scared? Even though I know I can’t ever...”

The possum opened its mouth again wordlessly, and Kenny wondered if that was a yes or a no. Wondered how crazy he was for venting his existential questions to an animal.

But how different were they really?

“Maybe I don’t need to know,” he murmured quietly, closing his eyes shut and contemplating the darkness. The darkness that would never stay. “One day at a time is enough, right?”

Kenny stared at the possum for a few moments longer, before he grinned under his hood. Maybe it couldn’t hear his words the same way he heard them, and maybe he didn’t get what possum-communication involved, but he got a good sense that they understood each other just fine. One day at a time. That was all he had to do, really. That was all- anyone was doing, right? Maybe they weren’t really that different.

“I think that’s okay,” he said, standing up and shaking out the cold from his joints. “Let’s find you some trash to eat. C’mon, you lil’ trash cat.”

Kenny felt the setting sun somewhere in the distance, and smiled just a little as he headed for the garbage can. Somehow, he knew he’d never really be left all alone.

**Author's Note:**

> possums are one of my favourite animals lol;; i really want to see one irl someday ;o;;;;; they're just so :vvvvv !!!!! i will go to america for the sole purpose of seeing one.....  
> i was planning this fic before i even found out about mr possy on phone destroyer so i guess it was meant to be lol  
> thank you so much for reading!! and love to all the trash cats out there <3


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